Gannon

ASHBURN, Va. -- Washington Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien will head for the bench as soon as Rich Gannon's foot is completely healed.Coach Richie Petitbon telegraphed the fact he plans to make a move yesterday when he went with Gannon at quarterback in a light practice the day after their 20-6 loss to the New York Giants."

ASHBURN, Va. -- On the last play of the Washington Redskins' practice yesterday, Desmond Howard made a diving catch of Rich Gannon's pass.The Redskins would like to think that's a sign of things to come.Gannon, who has thrown only 21 passes this year, and Howard, who has caught just seven, could wind up playing bigger roles as the 2-7 Redskins try to salvage their season.Gannon took all the snaps in practice yesterday on his sore right foot without problems, a sure sign he'll make his first start for the Redskins against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in Anaheim, Calif.

Rich Gannon was on a golf course in Minneapolis on Thursday when he found out he had been traded to the Washington Redskins."Somebody yelled over the fence that they heard it on the radio," Gannon said yesterday at Redskin Park after joining his new team.The news, though, wasn't a surprise to Gannon.He knew not only that the negotiations were in progress with the Redskins, but also that he no longer fit into the Vikings' plans after he was benched late last season and the team signed Jim McMahon on the free-agent market.

The Washington Redskins quarterback situation became a bit more complicated yesterday.Coach Richie Petitbon announced that backup quarterback Rich Gannon didn't take any snaps yesterday because of a sore foot he suffered in the 17-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins Monday night.The Redskins hadn't previously announced that Gannon was injured, and practices have been closed to reporters this week.The Redskins, who apparently thought the injury would heal more quickly, decided to list Gannon as probable for tomorrow's game against the New York Giants.

Rich Gannon, the flinty, 35-year-old quarterback of the Oakland Raiders, draws inspiration from the past two Super Bowl champions. Five-year programs are as dated as leather helmets; in the NFL, this is the era of instant gratification. "When you go back and look at the past couple of Super Bowl winners, you realize that it does not take much to make a run," Gannon said. "Look at Baltimore. They came out of nowhere [to win last season's Super Bowl]. The [St. Louis] Rams came out of nowhere [to win in 1999]

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Chuck Knox's quarterback move worked and Richie Petitbon's didn't.That was the difference in the Los Angeles Rams' 10-6 win over the Washington Redskins yesterday before 45,546 at Anaheim Stadium.Knox, in his 21st season as a head coach, brought in T. J. Rubley late in the third quarter for Jim Everett and he engineered the game's only touchdown drive -- although he did it with the help of what the Redskins said was an illegal play.Petitbon, in his first year as Redskins coach, benched Mark Rypien for Rich Gannon, but Gannon struggled and admitted he was rusty and bothered by the foot he broke on Oct. 4."

The rampaging Oakland Raiders are built for September and October, not for December and January. They are good when the season is new and the injuries are negligible. They are just so-so when the season is advanced and old wounds won't heal. The past three years, the Raiders have watched great starts dissolve into sour, unfulfilled finishes. They started 8-1 in 2000 and 6-1 in 2001, but neither season ended with the Super Bowl. Instead, Oakland saw the Ravens' Tony Siragusa fall on quarterback Rich Gannon to snuff out their 2000 campaign and winced as officials wiped out a New England Patriots fumble to terminate 2001.

SAN DIEGO - Under pressure, the league's Most Valuable Player proved to be a frequently fallible one. Rattled by a constant pass rush from the periphery, Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon was a portrait of frustration in yesterday's 48-21 Super Bowl loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as three of his passes were picked off and run back for touchdowns. The leader of the NFL's top-ranked offense, Gannon set a record of a different sort, throwing five interceptions - the most in the Super Bowl's 37-year history.

SAN DIEGO -- Dogged perseverance will be rewarded tonight. The only question is whose. Will Super Bowl XXXVII be the fulfillment of Rich Gannon's 14-year odyssey, spanning five NFL teams and countless crossroads? Or will it be the culmination of Brad Johnson's nine-year journey through the same jungle with three different teams and a similar number of tribulations? Two quarterbacks, one ring. Destiny waits for one of them at Qualcomm Stadium, where the Oakland Raiders, led by Gannon, chase their fourth Super Bowl championship, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, led by Johnson, seek their first.

Ravens defensive tackle Tony Siragusa came down hard on Oakland Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon on Sunday, and the National Football League came down hard on Siragusa yesterday. The league fined the 11-year veteran $10,000 for unnecessarily slamming the quarterback to the ground and landing on top of him - Rule 12, Section 2. Siragusa's second-quarter hit in the Ravens' 16-3 win aggravated a shoulder injury Gannon first sustained on a sack by Michael Mc- Crary on the Raiders' first possession.